Crime: Memorial tree at Berlin CSD site ripped from the ground

A memorial tree at Berlin’s Tiergarten site commemorating the victims of an Islamist attack during Christopher Street Day was pulled from the ground, the latest damage at the site.

A police patrol discovered the damaged maple at about 1:20 a.m. on Sunday, police said. The protective fence had also been torn out, while memorial candles and photographs were damaged or destroyed. By midday, the tree stood again in its original position, although it was visibly leaning. Police did not explain how it had been placed back inside the fence. It was also unclear whether the maple had been completely uprooted during the night.

The memorial site was damaged again only about a week after a rainbow bench installed there was vandalized. Workers removed the demolished remains, and the bench is expected to be repaired.

The site recalls the attack on July 25, when an Islamist attacker drove a vehicle into a crowd and crashed into a tree. He then attacked more people with a machete before fleeing. A woman died and 31 people suffered injuries, some of them serious. Police shot and killed the 21-year-old attacker the following day.